


It's Like Moonlighting

by ChunkMonk



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: M/M, Schmoop, boys who like boys, byeler through Robin's POV, robin is perceptive af, steve and robin friendship, video store fun, working for a living
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 04:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19716319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChunkMonk/pseuds/ChunkMonk
Summary: It's summer and Robin and Steve are once again working together at the Family Video. Two of their best customers are back, and Robin can't help but observe. Her observations start a discussion about the pair and what they are to each other. Steve, as always, is clueless.





	It's Like Moonlighting

**Author's Note:**

> Canon compliant except Will doesn't move away. Or you can assume he's just visiting for the summer. Whatever you want.

It is a hot and sticky August day in 1986 and for once Robin is glad to be stuck inside Family Video, slicing through box after box of new releases that need to be put on the shelves. As far as part time jobs go, it’s better than scooping cones for tweens hyped up on sugar like last summer, but just barely. Then again she does miss the drama that comes with having a secret Russian bunker underneath your workplace. There is nothing under the Family Video except asphalt and dirt. Boring, Indiana dirt. 

Working at the only video rental store in town does come with its own brand of excitement though, and she watches it play out in front of her as Steve is busy checking out a group of girls from Hawkins high; they are doing some checking out of their own, more interested in ogling the legendary Steve Harrington at his summer job than renting the God awful film Splash, even though Daryl Hannah is objectively hot as hell. 

When the bells on the front door chime, indicating that Steve’s fanclub has left, she shoves her work aside and taps on the counter with her box cutter, signaling for Steve’s attention. 

“Look at that.” Robin says, nodding her head in the direction of the far corner, near the comedy section. “Those two are too stinkin cute. Everytime they come in it’s like watching puppies. I’m gonna get a cavity I swear.”

Steve closes out the register and gives her a look. “Who?” 

Considering the place is currently empty, the answer should be obvious, but Robin points them out anyways. 

“Wheeler and Byers.”

The pair have been coming in to the store pretty much every weekend for the entirety of the summer, partly because there was jack shit to do in this town, and partly because they hooked them up with free rentals on a regular basis. Robin hasn’t really gotten to know them on a personal basis—besides learning that the tall one wanted to watch Gremlins an unnatural amount of times, and the small one thinks John Hughes films are “overrated”—but she’s seen them in the place enough to get a decent sense of who they are and what they’re like and…… yea they are adorable together. 

Steve looks around till he spots the teens lingering by the racks of candy and wrinkles his brow. “Uh, ok yeah. I guess.” He shrugs. 

She takes a cursory glance around, strictly out of habit since it’s just the four of them in the store, and then lowers her voice. “How long have they been a dating?”

Steve makes a sort of sputtering sound and looks at Robin as if she’s sprouted another head. Which really wouldn’t be a surprising event in a town like this.

“How long have they been…” She repeats again, only to trail off when she sees his reaction. “Uh, why is your face doing that?”

Steve is wearing the exact expression he did two months prior when she’d asked him if he would ever consider cutting his hair. Pure shock and confusion. “Why would you ask me that?!?” He had said back then, and he looks sufficiently thrown again.

“Dating!? Why do you think those two are dating?!”

“I just…” Robin starts, feeling like the answer is obvious and she really didn’t expect to have to explain it. “I mean, look at them!” She gestures in their direction, hoping that if Steve just opens his big dumb eyes she won’t have to spell it out for him. “I just thought it was obvious?”

“Obvious.” Steve parrots, sounding utterly lost. He shakes his head and grabs one of the boxes from Robins pile and rips it clean open. “I am pretty sure Mike Wheeler is straight since he’s super hung up on the girl with powers. And Will is…..well. He’s Will.” Steve scratches his head and looks thoughtful, and Robin can tell he’s working out some things in that pretty little head of his. Maybe questioning some shit he’s never had to before. “Actually I don’t know what Byers’ deal is. He’s never had a girlfriend that I am aware of but, and he seems to be more into Dungeons and Dragons than girls, but he’s like a fifteen year old nerd. A late bloomer or something. It’s totally normal.”

“Ah, ok.” Despite trying not to, Robin knows she’s pulling a face, that her emotions are right there on the surface cause she’s shit at hiding them, and sure enough Steve notices. 

“Well what does that look mean?”

“What look?” She replies nonchalantly, pulling a stack of Top Gun tapes out of a box and flinging the empty box into the corner. She stashes a copy behind the register for her friend Lisa to borrow, who has a thing for Tom Cruise the way she has a thing for Ally Sheedy. 

“That face you make when you are clearly judging me for something but won’t tell me what.”

Robin sighs; have they already reached the old married couple stage in their friendship where they can recognize each others facial expressions? Why couldn’t Steve just be able to read her mind too? Why does she always have to explain everything to him? This town is totally killing her vibe. 

“Look, to be honest I’m not sure if I should even say anything more. I assumed something based on circumstantial evidence and opened my big fat trap which you know I love to do, but maybe we should just leave it, ok? I mean I’m pretty good at noticing things like this, but despite appearances, I am not infallible. I could be wrong.”

Steve cocks an eyebrow at her as he pulls a stack of Short Circuit tapes from his box. “What do you mean you’re pretty good at noticing things like this?”

Robin stalls for a minute, watching as Wheeler and Byers break into uncontrollable giggles as they read the jackets of some tapes in the horror section, wondering what could possibly be so hilarious, and thinks of the best way to explain. 

Were straight people always this exhausting? Jesus.

“Ok, look, it’s not an exact science or anything, but us people of a certain persuasion, well let’s just say we are usually pretty good at noticing our kinfolk so to speak. Call it a finely honed craft made necessary by the oppressive society we live in. It’s not fool proof of course, but I’ve found my accuracy rate to be statistically higher than the average.”

Steve’s eyes glaze over a little at that and Robin has to bite her lip to keep from laughing up a lung. 

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Gaydar Steve! Us gays can pick each other out of a crowd. It’s an evolutionary trait or something. Or magic. I don’t know. But it’s pretty awesome.” 

There’s a few moments where Steve is visibly processing this revelation and his adorably confused silence is broken by the jingle of bells as a woman and three obnoxiously screeching kids comes barreling into the store.

When Steve finally responds, he does a dramatic stage whisper which makes Robin snort. 

“So you’re saying you can like…. tell when other people are gay?”

“Kinda?” Robin steps closer to him, keeping their conversation in a small bubble between them now that they have company. “When you feel like you’re the only one of your kind around, I think you just subconsciously look for others who are like you. You need to know that you’re not alone.”

”That makes sense.”

“But all of that aside, just look at the way those two interact.” Steve follows her gaze towards the back of the store, where Mike is ranting about something, judging by the way he’s rapidly gesticulating, as he reaches towards the top shelf, and Will watches him with rapt attention. “Look at the way the little one just sort of gazes all dreamy eyed at the taller one when the taller one has no idea. Look at the body language Steve! The mirroring! It’s all there!”

“The mirror what?”

“Mirroring Steve, mirroring. It’s the behavior of subconsciously mimicking the gestures, speech patterns and attitudes of another, particularly someone you are close with or even attracted to. I read all about it in my Mom’s old psych textbook from college, and those two? They are off the charts. So while they might not be a couple, they are definitely into each other, even if they don’t realize it.”

Robin smiles smugly, confident that she’s adequately explained things and that maybe, just maybe Steve will finally catch a clue. The lady with the screeching terrors comes over to check out a stack of Disney films, and when they finally leave, she turns to see Steve scrutinizing her closely. 

“That’s…....insane.”

Robin blanches.”Insane? And what about it is insane exactly?”

“I—“

Robin cuts him off as she normally does when she’s all hopped up and ready to rant, and rant she does, jabbing her finger in the air to emphasize her points. 

“Is it so crazy to think that there could be others like me here in Hawkins, Indiana? Do you really think I am the only gay person in this town? Pffft.”

“No, but—“

“And furthermore, don’t tell me that if those two were a guy and a girl that you would be having such a hard time with this concept Steve. Last month you said, and I quote “Suzie Collins and that guy sure make a cute couple” when they were literally just standing next to each other. And later we found out he was her cousin!” Robin threw her hands up and scoffed. “A guy and a girl just have to merely exist in the same space for people to believe they are a thing, but I am the insane one? Me? When we are literally front row to—to that!”

Robin points at Mike and Will, who are back to the candy rack and are seemingly arguing over a box of Whoppers before Mike reaches out and tickles Will, making the boy yelp and blush furiously as he swats Mike away.

She has no idea what’s going on, but it’s so adorable she could puke. The puppy love is smacking her in the face. 

Steve just stares at the kids, taking them in. Robin can tell that the lights are slowly starting to come on inside his head, and she’s glad all that Farrah Fawcett hairspray hasn’t permanently damaged his cognitive processes. There’s hope for Steve yet, even if he still sounds slightly dubious. 

“Ok maybe it’s not exactly insane but, maybe there’s another explanation here? They’ve been best friends since kindergarten…. they are just super comfortable with each other. More than most guys would be.” He shrugs. “They’ve been through a lot, they are close….like brothers.”

Robin snorts. “I sure hope you don’t have any brothers if you think that’s how they look at each other.”

Steve fixes her with a glare. “I don’t for your information.”

“Thank God.”

Mike is now tickling Will again and his pathetic little yelps can be heard all through the store. Steve can’t stop watching them, and his face goes through an interesting set of contortions.

“Oh god, you’re right. They are totally flirting.”

“I knew you would catch up eventually.” Robin smiles smugly and pats him on the shoulder. “The world is just not ready for my level of perception is all. Mere mortals can’t deal.”

At that moment, Will bends down to grab a video from the lowest shelf, and when he pops back up he loses his footing and stumbles a bit, causing Mike to grab his hips, steadying him, and his hands linger there a little too long as they smile at each other before averting their eyes, cheeks red as tomatoes. 

Steve leans against the counter and groans, forgetting about the pile of unopened boxes they are supposed to be sorting through. “Uhhh Robin, why?! Why did you open my eyes to this? I haven’t seen such ‘will they won’t they’ tension since Moonlighting! It’s painful!”

“Yeah, it is isn’t it.”

Robin sounds wistful, the words having double meaning to her. She has first hand knowledge of the kind of shit those two are in for, whether they acknowledge what is happening between them or not. Hawkins is not the best place for this kind of thing. Not like the rest of Ronald Reagan’s conservative America is any better, but at least there are bastions like San Francisco and New York out there. She dreams of moving to one of them someday. Maybe Steve could come with her. They could be roommates. They could find a pair of cute girls and go on double dates. 

“So what do we do?” Steve turns to her, sounding distressed. 

Robin blinks, confused. “What do you mean, what do we do? We don’t do anything.”

“But it's clear they like each other and I don’t know…. I’ve given Dustin dating advice in the past so maybe I could… ya know…. “ His eyes light up with excitement at helping out them out, but this was a far cry from giving fashion and hair styling advice. 

“But no Steve.” Robin says sternly. “Noticing what’s going on, watching them from afar...that’s different. I know you love these kids. I know you hang out with them way too much for someone in college…” Steve shoots her a look. “But it’s not your place to meddle in something like this unless they come to you first. Coming to terms with the idea you might not be straight is delicate man. You can’t interfere. You just gotta let them figure it out on their own and hope it all works out in the end.”

Steve blows out a large gust of air and it’s clear he’s frustrated. Join the club, Robin thinks. There’s nothing that’s not frustrating about this situation. She’s not sure if she’s giving Steve the best advice, but since she’s had to figure this out all on her own, it’s all she’s got to give. Maybe the boys would be ok if Steve approached them. But maybe they wouldn’t. All she knows is that when she was figuring things out, she would have died if someone started the “hey so do you like girls?” conversation. 

“Does it though?” He asks. “Does it ever work out in the end? I mean I know it didn’t with….” 

Steve stops. It didn’t work out with you and Tammy Thompson is the unsaid sentence hanging in the air, and Robin tries not to let the pain show. 

“I would love to say that things like this always work out. That people like me get our happy endings, but…” Robin looks down sadly. She runs her nail underneath the section of laminate that’s peeling away from the countertop, picking at it nervously. “I think you know that wouldn’t be true. You know the world we live in Steve.” 

Robin doesn’t elaborate but the silence that follows is full of meaning, and she can see it register in his eyes. Fortunately, at that moment three different groups of people wander in and they get a nice little break from the heaviness of this discussion when one wants to sign up for a membership and the other asks for some help picking out films her 80 year old mother might enjoy. 

**************

“Ok I think we finally decided what we are gonna get.” Mike proclaims as the two boys finally make their way up to the registers. He slaps down a stack of films including Caddyshack, The Thing and This Is Spinal Tap, which are movies Robin knows they’ve already seen at least a dozen times already, and a couple boxes of candy. 

Steve looks through the pile, and seeing that none of them are new releases, tells them they can rent them for free, but they have to pay for the candy. 

“How much?” Mike asks, digging through his pockets and pulling out a stack of crumpled dollar bills. At the same time Will is shifting through a smaller stack of coins in his hand, and it’s clear he doesn’t have as much money to spend. 

Steve sorts through the pile of candy. “Two fifty.”

“Here you go.” Mike smiles and holds out the money, but Will reaches out to stop him.

“No, no you should let me pay Mike. I suggested we come here and…”

“But I suggested the candy….”

“Yea but we are both going to eat it…”

“I know but I said it would be my treat….”

“Well maybe we can just…. I don’t know. Go Dutch?”

“Ok, fine.” Mike takes the quarters that Will places into his palm and Robin doesn’t miss the way their hands linger or the way both their cheeks turn pink as their hands touch. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Steve watching with wide eyes, fascinated like it’s some sort of nature documentary. She not so subtly steps on his foot, stopping him from staring. It’s creepy.

“Here you go.” Mike slams the money on the counter and the two grab their spoils and leave, laughing all the way at something neither of them can hear. 

When they are safely out the door and out of view, Robin lets out a little squeal and punches Steve on the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Oh my God did you see that? Did you see that? Steve they went Dutch. They went Dutch! Like they are on a date or something! I cannot. I just cannot. You see what cuteness I have been witnessing all summer long.”

“I should have believed you from the start.” Steve shakes his head and bends down to pick up a box and actually get some work done now that the real life soap opera has left the building. 

Robin grins a big toothy triumphant grin. “Steve I am always right and you should know this by now. Stop fighting it.”

“Well you are a smart girl..”

“Damn right I am!”

“And so humble too.” Steve snorts, handing her a box and a box cutter. “Well from now on I will defer to you on all matters of this nature.”

Robin slices into her box with gusto. She will never dislike the feeling of being right. It just feels good. Damn good. “As you should. Though to be safe, you should probably just defer to me on all matters period.”

“Well let’s not get too cocky here…”

“Like the hair thing…”

“Oh god not again!”

“I’m serious Steve! I keep saying it’s getting too big. You could hide things in there.”

“Too big?! You’re crazy. It’s totally Rob Lowe.”

“You wish you looked like Rob Lowe.”

“What do you know about Rob Lowe? You don’t even like guys.”

“I don’t have to like guys to know when one looks good.”

“And I don’t?!”

Robin snorts and Steve throws a handful of packing peanuts in her direction. She dodges them and throws up her hands. 

“Ok, I apologize I apologize! You’re just as hot, if not hotter than Rob Lowe.”

“Thank you.”

“And you’re definitely a bigger dingus than Rob Lowe soo…..”

This time it’s Robin who throws a handful of packing peanuts at Steve and the two dissolve into a mess of laughter.


End file.
